Ignoring time management screws others- but mostly your reputation

I am writing this while I am waiting for a meeting to start where the organizer isn’t present. Let’s see how far I get.

Communication is at the center of business. Emails, SMS, snaps, IM’s on any one of 10 different platforms, social media – they all tell other people things we are thinking. The plans we are making. Actions that are required.

We send emails to gain permission, get intelligence from colleagues we respect or depend on, even deliver artifacts. We often use email to alleviate a meeting. Why waste 15 minutes of time and days waiting for the conversation to arrive on the calendar when a simple reply back will do?

And yet, some people don’t reply to emails, or selectively don’t respond. The lack of a reply to an email is either a conscious or subconscious FU to the sender. And to the sender it doesn’t matter which one it is. Your action is saying ‘I don’t have time for this, or you.’ And what happens when people don’t have time for me? I figure out a way to get it done with out them. And I get things done, with or without you.

The rub is that some people are really busy – I know I am – and things fall through the cracks, or you have to make decisions on what you pay attention to. An adjacent reality, is that your time management is your job, not mine. Or mine, and not yours – lord knows I am guilty of the things here I am complaining about.

You have to much to do? Talk to your manager.

Heavy deadline coming up? Manage expectations.

Personal issues? Ask for understanding.

Being late for meetings is like not responding to an email, but in person. You are quite literally discounting everyone else’s time but your own. And people get sick of that. And sick of you. If others want to involve you it’s cause they respect you. Respect them back. Otherwise the respect is lost.

I rarely pee alone at work.

I am writing this while I am waiting for a meeting to start where the organizer isn’t present. Let’s see how far I get. Communication is at the center of business. Emails, SMS, snaps, IM’s on any one of 10 different platforms, social media – they all tell other people things we are thinking. The plans we are making. Actions that are required. We send emails to gain permission, get intelligence from colleagues we respect or depend on, even deliver artifacts. We often use email to alleviate a meeting. Why waste 15 minutes of time and days waiting for the […]